Hamilton produced a remarkable return to form after struggling badly throughout the three practice sessions this weekend.

Before qualifying Mercedes said they did not know how Vettel could have been more than 0.6secs ahead of their fastest driver, Nico Rosberg in final practice. Hamilton was 0.5secs slower again.

Hamilton said: "We were miles off this morning, we made a change and I didn't know if it would work but it did."

Vettel added: "It was quite close. I tried everything I could but unfortunately it wasn't enough.

"We are much closer to them here than in Silverstone [last weekend] so we are quite confident for tomorrow."

Rosberg was knocked out in second qualifying after Mercedes made the error of not sending him out for a second run at the end of the session.

The German, who has won two of the last three races, was knocked out of the top 10 as other drivers improved their times.

He dropped from being second behind Hamilton to 11th in the last four minutes of the session as he sat in the garage.

The man who knocked him out was Raikkonen, who moved up to second after himself dropping out of the top 10 in the closing minutes.

Pirelli boss on F1 tyre changes

"It was quite a shock really," Rosberg said. "I didn't see it coming. The team didn't expect the track to ramp up that much. It really is a big disappointment. Unbelievable. We just didn't judge it correctly."

Mercedes' error was a boost for Button, who sneaked into the top 10 with a lap 0.664secs quicker than team-mate Sergio Perez, who qualified 13th.

On the occasion of the team's 600th grand prix, both Williams cars failed to progress beyond the first knock-out part of qualifying and will line up 17th and 18th, Valtteri Bottas 0.014secs faster than Pastor Maldonado.

Ahead of this weekend, the Grand Prix Drivers' Association (GPDA), of which all but three of the drivers are members,
said they would "immediately withdraw"
from the race meeting if the problems were repeated.

Vettel said that in the race the drivers would leave any decision on safety to race director Charlie Whiting, who can hear their radio transmissions to their teams.

Share this story

Comments

There must be something wrong with the Mercedes car when Hamilton just finished ahead of Button's car by .045 secs in 5&6 places respectively. After Hamilton stormed into pole position and Button could only manage 11th.

I just dont see why he is expected to jump out of the way. And why didnt hamo jump out of the way in Malaysia? welcome your thoughts on that. oh the hypocrisy. Why doesnt the team let them race for a while so that we can see how good they are in comparative terms, like Mclaren.

221.Oddz hamo and kimi on softs so have to stop earlier nico on mediums so longer run. why should he slow down or move out of the way just because hamo on different strategy. He got nineth after starting 12th. by slowing down to let them pass risks going out of points and yea he would run in their wake for awhile after they overtook him thus damaging his tyres further.

210. bengit were they on different stratgies when nico was told to hold stations in Malaysia? Hamilton is clearly being favoured by merc and Ross. Hamo and nico are friends but they are also competitors within the team so nico should be allowed to do his own race. its not nicos fault if Hamo was on softs and why should nico compromise his strategy.

Hamilton's driving better than anyone with a car that thanks to the tyres is completely off race pace. Today he defended position well against the best driver on the circuit. The same driver who openly acknowledges Lewis as one of the best drivers out there. Give Alonso or Hamilton Adrian newey and they would give you the titles vettel has plus more. Pozidriva you obviously know nothing.

The odd thing is is that yesterday after claiming pole Lewis said he finally had a car equal to the Red Bull, didn't do him much good though, he needs to concentrate on the job in hand, stop worrying about Vettel thrashing him and stealing all the records and knuckle down to some hard work. Lewis just doesn't have the talent to match Vettel, in an equal car or even a better one. Game Over Lewis.

I loved the gp today. its a bit of a shame that merc have designated nico to number 2 status although I believe he is better than hamilton. Clearly team orders have been intigated on two or three occasions in favour of hamilton. today hamilton could not overtake nico two times and nico was ordered to move over thus compromising his race. very sad.

@gazit has helped a bit but as u can see they are still behind in these type of tracks with high temperatures.but surely u can see that the punishment they received will put them further behind so really there is not real reason to be unhappy!

This page is best viewed in an up-to-date web browser with style sheets (CSS) enabled. While you will be able to view the content of this page in your current browser, you will not be able to get the full visual experience. Please consider upgrading your browser software or enabling style sheets (CSS) if you are able to do so.